Hair comb

ABSTRACT

A generally comblike hand-operated instrument for parting of uniform, smooth sections of hair during hairdressing work, especially in the styling of live hair on the head. The instrument has two spaced transversely projecting fingers which serve to separate a section of hair from the rest of the hair, and a longitudinally extending tail for manipulation of the separated section of hair.

United States Patent Dannat [4 Oct. 10, 1972 [54] HAIR COMB D21 1,224 5/1968 Asner ..D86/8 [72] Inventor: Heinz Dannat, Strittholzstr. 3 B,

8036 Herrsching, Germany Przr nary Examiner-Russell R. Kinsey Asszstant Examiner-J. Q. Lever Flledi March 1970 AttorneyAlbert M. Parker [30] Foreign Application Priority Data March 12, 1969 Germany ..G 69 O9 802 July 18, 1969 Germany ..G 69 28 514 [52] US. Cl ..132/122 [51] Int. Cl. "A4511 24/10 [58] Field of Search ..132/122; D86/8 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D197,588 2/1964 Macon 3! I a i v illm'il 1 i il lll i CZIZI:

6 II I 2 I Appl. No.: 19,613

[ ABS IRACT A generally comblike hand-operated instrument for parting of uniform, smooth sections of hair during hairdressing work, especially in the styling of live hair on the head. The instrument has two spaced transversely projecting fingers which serve to separate a section of' hair from the rest of the hair, and a longitudinally extending tail for manipulation of the separated section of hair.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEnncr 10 1912 SHEET 1 OF 2 PAIENTEDucI 10 I972 3.696, 823

sum 2 or 2 HAIR COMB BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the art of hairdressing, and in particular to the provision of an instrument for evenly parting of hair for the placement of hair curlers in the live hair of the head.

2. Description of the Prior Art When producing permanent waves, water waves or curly hair styles, the hair is placed on hair curlers to change its shape after it has been washed and perhaps dried. For this purpose the combed and smoothly flowing hair is parted into sections and each section, starting from the tip, is rolled onto a curler. The width of the hair section must conform to the free curling space of the curler, since otherwise loops may form in the hair during the curling operation, and such loops will disturb the flow of the resulting curled locks. It is the 'well known and customary practice for the hairdresser to judge the width of sections of hair to be parted by the use of the unaided eye. This method requires a great degree of skill which can only be obtained by long experience, and when attempted by less skillful operators often results in uneven and unattractive curls. The present invention facilitates the fixing of the width of hair sections so that even novices and persons with no training in hairdressing can avoid these common mistakes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problem of evenly parting hair for curling and the like is effectively solved by the use of the instru- Y ment of the invention. The instrument of the invention generally resembles an ordinary hair comb with an array of evenly spaced teeth extending transversely from an elongated body, A tail is preferably provided for easy manipulation. But the instrument differs radically from the ordinary comb in that two spaced fingers extend transversely outward from the back of the body. The two fingers are preferably somewhat larger than the combing teeth of the instrument and extend outward in a direction generally opposite to that of the teeth.

Between the fingers the back of the spine of the instrument is so formed as to facilitate easy sectioning of the hair parted by the fingers. Three embodiments of the invention are disclosed, each of which has the fingers and the space therebetween formed somewhat differently.

To part sections of hair after combing with the conventional teeth, the instrument is reversed so that the two spaced fingers engage the hair. A stroke of the instrument parts a section of hair equal in width to the space between the fingers, making two parallel parts in the hair. Twirling the tail of the instrument in the manner of a curling pin, the operator takes up the separated section of hair by lifting the ends away from the roots, and the section can be readily curled up from the tip. The width of the section will match the free curling space of the curler.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a device for uniformly parting sections of hair for curling.

Another object of the invention is to provide a miltipurpose in hairstyling, especially for combing and sectioning hair.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention viewed from the side in which the back of the spine between the parting fingers is straight. y,

' FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. I of an embodiment of the instrument in which the back of the spine is curved.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 of an embodiment of the instrument in which the back of the spine is provided with short teeth.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiment of the instrument shown in FIG. 1

can be seen to have a body or spine 1, which is provided with a set of outwardly extending evenly spaced teeth or tines 3. Beyond the portion of the spine 1 on which the teeth are formed, the spine narrows and extends longitudinally as a tail 4.

Two spaced fingers extend transversely outwardly from the spine in a direction opposite to that in which the teeth 3 point. The fingers2 are obtuse rather than pointed and toothlike in this embodiment with narrow points and widened bases where they join the body 1. This'blunted contour allowsthe fingers 2 to slide easily through the hair while effectively parting the hair to separate a section for curling. The distance 7 between the tips of the fingers 2 is selected to correspond to the free space of a curler. The hair at the area transversed by one of the fingers will be pushed aside and slightly upwardly. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the back of the spine 1 between the fingers 2 has a straight line profile as shown at 5. This contour of the spine 1 is preferable for use in parting the hair into small sections corresponding to the free curling space of small curlers.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 2, the spine 1 between the fingers 2' is concavely curved in profile as shown at 6. This embodiment has been found more effective than that of FIG. 1 for the curling of hair into larger curls. As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the space between the fingers 2' corresponds to the free curling space of the curler. Since a larger amount of hair is seized for the larger curl sizes the inward arching of the spine at 6 allows free sliding of the instrument by accomodating more hair between the fingers 2.

The embodiment of FIG. 3 has a spline l1 ending in a stemlike tail 16 for easy manipulation in the manner of a curling pin. A row of combing teeth 15 extend at uniformly spaced locations from the front of the instrument Long tine-like parting fingers 12 and 13 extend outwardly from the back of the spine 11. The spacing between the fingers 12 and 13 corresponds to the free space of the curlers for which the hair is to be seetioned, as does the spacing of the fingers 2 and 2 "in FIGS. 1 and 2. However, instead of being obtuse as in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fingers 12 and 13 are elongated and hence more like the tines of a fork. The faces of these fingers l2 and 13 which pass through the hair are preferably formed to present an acute angle profile to the hair, as does a snowplow, for easier passage through the hair.

A row of smaller combing teeth 14 may be provided between the long fingers l2 and 13. These smaller teeth 14 will further subdivide the sectioned ,hair if so desired, or will permit the back of the instrument to be used for other hairstyling purposes other than sectioning, as will be understood to those skilled in the art.

The several embodiments of the invention also illustrate different conformations which the tail of the in strument may have. Thus the tail may be flattened. to a degree and longitudinally tapered like thetails 4 and 16 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or it may be generally cylindrical as is the tail 4' of FIG. 2 which is shown as a separately formed element fitted into the spine 1'."The flattened tails 4 and 16 are readily flipped over between thumb and fingerand the cylindrical tail 4" is suited to being rolled or twirled.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, theseveral embodiments of the instrument may beof unitary formation, and it will be understood that the instrument may be molded or cast from metal, plastic or other suitable material. Alternatively, the instrumentof the invention could of course be formed of, several firmly joined elements. Numerous other obvious modifications, uses and advantages of the instrument of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. Aninstrument for manually parting hair into sections of equal width in hairdressing, the width of each section corresponding to the curling space of a hair curler for preparing-hair for curling, comprising an elongated body formed with only two similar, spaced, separated, transversely extending fingers for engaging the hair and separating a section of hair by forming two spaced parallel parts defining ahair section having a widthcorresponding to a curler therebetween, said two fingers each being of an obtuse form with a narrow point andwidened base where the finger joins said body, one of said fingers being located near an end of said body, the other of said body terminating in a longitudinally extending tail, a set of closely spaced combing teeth'exten'ding transversely from said body in a direction generally opposite to the direction in which said fingers extend, for combhair separated by said fingers upon rotation of the instrument, and said combing teeth joining said body along an area which is substan-v tially longer than the spacing between said fingers.

The instrument of claim 1 wherein the tail is generally cylindrical in form.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,696,823 Dated October 10, 1972 lnvent fl Heinz Dannat It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Claim 1, line 14, "other of" should read --other end of-.

Claim 1, line 18, "combhair" should read -combing hair--.

Signed and sealed this 13th day of March 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.PLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents IUHM 0-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC 60376 we 9 U 5 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I969 0- .5 H4 

1. An instrument for manually parting hair into sections of equal width in hairdressing, the width of each section corresponding to the curling space of a hair curler for preparing hair for curling, comprising an elongated body formed with only two similar, spaced, separated, transversely extending fingers for engaging the hair and separating a section of hair by forming two spaced parallel parts defining a hair section having a width corresponding to a curler therebetween, said two fingers each being of an obtuse form with a narrow point and widened base where the finger joins said body, one of said fingers being located near an end of said body, the other of said body terminating in a longitudinally extending tail, a set of closely spaced combing teeth extending transversely from said body in a direction generally opposite to the direction in which said fingers extend, for combhair separated by said fingers upon rotation of the instrument, and said combing teeth joining said body along an area which is substantially longer than the spacing between said fingers.
 2. The instrument of claim 1 wherein the tail is generally cylindrical in form. 